Have I told you lately that I don't love you?
by pili-pala
Summary: A shape shifter gets kidnapped by a higher level demon. Meanwhile Phoebe feels like she's been slapped in the face by love. But is that really the case? No pairings that aren’t in the series. Setting is season 8, so just as a heads up, mind spoilers
1. Dust and Dates

**Title**: "Have I told you lately that I don't love you" – from the song by Kenny Rogers "Have I told you lately that I love you". Here comes the usual line: I don't own the song, nor the series. -dies in shock- lol.

**Setting**: Season 8, after they have their identities back, let's say after "Battle of the hexes" So I'm picking up on some events that happened during that episode.

**You'll hopefully like this story if you **– like fan fiction that doesn't mess with the original characters (including the pairings) of the series, and like a little mythology.  
**You probably won't like it if you **– don't like the story line to be broken just a tiny little bit, or don't like mythology. Lol.

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A woman in her mid twenties hurried along the crowded rainy street. She had long brown hair and was wearing jeans and a green raincoat. Nervously she skidded past people who seemed to have more time, apologizing for pushing some of them aside so she could get trough faster. Now and then, she glanced back; hoping she had shook her pursuer off.

About twenty meters behind her though, walked a man, dressed in black. He kept his eyes fixed on her as he followed her. A grin appeared on his face when he saw he was catching up. "You can run, girl, but you can't hide" he muttered, "Because I know what you are, and if I bring you back to Medea, the power she possesses will be extended to me as well. Don't worry Medea, this demon won't let you down." He said it with an almost singing tone in his voice.

The woman ran past a group of business people and dashed behind a telephone booth. She looked back through the glass. She could see him. He was still on the right track; peering along the area where she was hiding. She sighed nervously and ran a hand trough her hair. There had to be a way out. "Jillian, that's not fair! Give it back!" a little boy's voice sounded from nearby. The woman looked around and saw an elementary class pass by with their teacher. This was her chance. She hid completely behind the phone booth. A dim purple light shimmered for a few seconds, and instead of the young woman, a little girl with braided hair appeared and joined the class.

The demon laughed when he noticed the light. "Ha, you thought that was going to fool me?" He followed the class to a nearby history museum. The teacher stopped the group and started counting them. The little girl looked around in panic. If he had noticed her come along with this group, it wouldn't be long before… She felt a hand on her shoulder and screamed. Too late. The museum and the kids became a blur. Instead, she found herself in some sort of dark cave. There were five Greek pillars in the middle, forming a circle. Ancient looking pictures of countless men and women were drawn on them. Black drapes hung from the ceiling, fighting back the little bit of light that came in.

The demon next to her grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to the pillars. "Medea!" he called, "It's Ragnar. I have the shape shifter you wanted." The girl screamed again, trying to get away. Ragnar threw her in the middle of the circle. When the girl looked up, a woman was standing in front of her. She wore a long deep red dress. Her long black hair fell forward as she lifted the girl to her feet. "Who are you?" the girl cried desperately, "Let me go!" The woman merely grinned. "I am Medea. I've been a sorceress for a couple hundreds of years now. But you know that, don't you Gloria? Come on now, you don't fool me."

The dim purple light shimmered, and the young woman took her own shape again. Medea laughed loudly, then grabbed Gloria by the hair. "_You_ are going to help me with my plan" she whispered in her left ear, "You see, I've heard that the charmed ones are still alive. And that really made my day, because as you may or may not know, I've built up a little reputation around here." She turned Gloria's head towards one of the pillars. "See these pretty pictures? Helpless little witches, and even a few white lighters. All trapped inside; unable to speak, unable to move. Their power belongs to me now. Imagine what my status would be if I can add the charmed ones to my little collection. Oh, I would _love_ to add them. Especially that lovesick one. What's her deal with love anyway? Doesn't she understand that it's just a worthless emotion?" Medea threw Gloria back on the ground. "You say you know me," Gloria said angrily, "Then you know that I would never-" Medea chuckled. "Oh, but I'm afraid you have no choice, dear. I could've found myself a demon shape shifter, you know. But a good one is just so much more fun." She said. Medea held one hand up and a small dish with red dust in it appeared, as deep red as her dress. She slowly walked towards Gloria and blew the content of the dish over her. The dish disappeared from Medea's hand. Gloria coughed and saw a little mark appear on the back of her left hand, just left of her thumb. It took the shape of a small sun. She looked at it worriedly. But that look was soon replaced by a blank stare.

--Meanwhile-------

Wednesday being her day off, Phoebe sat in the kitchen, reading a magazine. And like any other day, Piper was getting lunch ready. Paige entered the room, apparently still half asleep. She didn't even notice her sisters and dragged herself to the fridge; nearly missing the handle and bumping into it. "Well good morning sunshine! What did _you_ do last night? The day's almost half over!" Phoebe asked; repressing a giggle. Startled, Paige turned towards her. "Oh, nothing much" she answered then, taking the bottle of milk out of the fridge and pouring herself a glass, "Cliff notes version: I saved my charge from getting beat up, nearly got run over by Henry - the parole officer - and went to my charge's apartment to check on him. My charge wasn't there, but Henry showed up again, told me my charge was in on a robbery, so we went on a stakeout. My charge got stabbed, but turned out to be innocent and is now hopefully back on the right track." She finished with a nod and a forced smile, sitting down opposite to Phoebe. "Yep, sounds relaxing." Phoebe nodded in ironic agreement.

"This Henry though," Piper asked with a suspicious frown, "that couldn't possibly be the one who has called three times already this morning, asking for you?" Paige put her glass down slowly and stared at her as if she was trying to detect a trap. "I don't know", she said at last, looking from Piper to Phoebe and back, "You didn't ask his name?" Piper shook her head. "I'm not your personal dating service nor your call center operator, honey" she laughed, "Besides, I didn't get the time to ask him anything. He just asked for you. And when I told him you were still asleep, he said he'd call back and hung up." Paige tilted her head in fake confusion. "Firstly, I _don't want_ to date him, ok? And secondly, you get to force me into speed dating, telling me I might find someone I like, but when someone – who's possibly not Henry – calls and asks for me, you don't ask for his name?" she asked with a played angry look. Piper didn't even look up from the food she was preparing. "Well, Paige, I'm sorry, but I've got things to do too. And _secondly_…" she paused at the word, smiling and gesturing with a spoon after every following word "If what this guy has to say is so urgent, he'll call you back. He's from the 21st century; he knows what re-dial is."

At that moment the doorbell sounded through the house and the phone rang. "See?" Piper grinned. Paige mumbled a "Yeah, yeah…sure" and went to pick up the phone. "I'll get the door." Phoebe said, closing her magazine and walking to the front door. Through the colored glass, she could make out the shape of the man she had recently been married to for a short time. "Dex" she said quietly - and just a tiny bit surprised - to herself, reaching for the doorknob.

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**Note**: There you go. That concludes the first chapter. I hope you liked it. This is my first real fanfic; so I would love some reviews. Good or bad, I'd love to hear it! So if you think someone sounded out of character, if something is bugging you about the story, or if you just want to tell me what you think, please don't hesitate to use the review button!

**Edit**: Changed Phoebe's reply to Paige's story, according to some advice from a friend.


	2. Crystal Clear

Phoebe gathered her courage and opened the door. She looked up at him with a faint smile. "Hey, can I come in?" he asked, looking very annoyed. He didn't really wait for an answer and walked past her, into the living room. "Of course." She answered, a bit unnecessarily, closing the door and following him.

"What's _this_?" he asked, showing her a newspaper and pointing at her column. She recognized it as the 'Pouting on Prescott' piece she'd done a few weeks before. "I thought we were clear on that…" she answered, crossing her arms and giving him a confused look. "Clear?" he replied angrily, "Phoebe, we were never clear on anything. If there's one thing our relationship lacked, it was clarity!" He walked past her again, back into the direction of the hallway. "Oh, and you know what I'm not _clear_ on either?" he continued, "Why you had to make whatever we had so obvious in your column. The office wasn't enough, the whole world had to know? Well, you'll be happy to know that your little plan worked then. I still regularly get strange people in my art gallery who seem interested in my work; but then it turns out they're actually reporters who want to talk about _you_." Phoebe took a few brave steps closer to him. "Dex, I…" she tried. But he didn't give her a chance. "Yea, it's always about _you_, isn't it? Well I've had it with you!" He opened the door. Holding it open, a little mark shaped like a sun was clearly visible on his left hand. But Phoebe, a bit preoccupied with what he was saying, didn't really notice it. "You know," he said with an angry frown, "I wish I had never met you. God knows my life would've been so much easier." And with that, he slammed the door behind him.

Shaken up by what had just happened, Phoebe walked back into the living room and let herself sink into the couch. Outside, Dex hid at the side of the house. Ragnar shimmered in. "Not bad, Gloria." He said with a dark smile. A purple light shone for a few seconds and Gloria took her original form again. Her brown hair was completely messed up, and she still had that same blank stare in her eyes. "Let's not stay here longer than needed." Ragnar growled. He grabbed her by the arm and they shimmered out.

Seconds later, they arrived at Medea's cave. She had conjured a stone table with a mirror on it. Medea pointed at a corner of the cave, and immediately, Gloria walked over there and sat down. "Ah, shape shifters are such great creatures to play with. After this, I might just keep her as a pet." Medea laughed. Ragnar walked closer. "What's the next step?" he asked, looking into the mirror. "Patience Ragnar. Let poor little Phoebe dwell on her feelings of lost love for a few more hours." She stood beside him and looked into the mirror as well. "We want to exploit those to the fullest."

Behind them, Gloria lifted her hands to her head. Her surroundings became clear to her again when she saw Ragnar and Medea standing in the middle of the cave, looking into the mirror. She looked around, desperate to find a way out. "Oh, look who's awake." Medea said, turning around, "Had a nice sleep, dear? Of course, you weren't really asleep. But you _were_ a great help." Gloria got up. "What did you do to me?" she yelled. Medea laughed. "Think hard. It'll all come to you soon. But once it does, you won't like it." She turned back to the mirror. But then seemed to change her mind. "Before I forget…" Medea said with a dismissive tone in her voice. With one wave of her hand, a cage appeared around Gloria. It was made out of some sort of crystal. Gloria tried to morph, but instead of the purple light, there was only a little spark. "Yea, it's blue crystal. No morphing allowed." Medea sang, shaking a finger at Gloria like a school teacher telling off a student. With another wave of her hand, the cage lifted from the ground and hovered in mid air above the stone table and the mirror.

"I wanted you to see." Medea said, pointing at the mirror. Gloria looked down, into it. She saw Phoebe sitting on the couch, quite upset. Suddenly Gloria remembered ringing the doorbell. Yelling at Phoebe. Flashes of the conversation. Then storming out. "You remember now, don't you?" Medea asked. Gloria didn't answer, she stared at Medea angrily. "Let's see who we'll send to her next." Medea waved her hand over the mirror. The image of Phoebe, sitting on the couch disappeared. Instead, a man appeared in the mirror. He was talking to someone on his cell phone when Phoebe walked in. "Pay attention," Medea said looking up at Gloria, "you want to know as much as you can about this man. And about his relationship with Phoebe. I think he'll be just perfect as your next subject."

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**Note**: Thank you for reading the second chapter. Again, I'd like to try to encourage you to use the review button. I'd really appreciate any thoughts, tips, opinions, ... on this story. Good or bad, I don't mind. Especially since it's my first story. 


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